Bigly Beef Stroganoff
Prep
15m
Cook
30m
Total
45m
Bigly says
We need to talk about stroganoff. Bigly stroganoff. The way it was meant to be eaten before this country decided every comfort food had to come with a powder packet and a cartoon glove on the box. Stroganoff was invented in Russia in the 1800s by a count, a real count, with a mustache, the works, and ever since then people have been mangling it. The hamburger-helper situation alone is a TRAGEDY. We don't speak of it. We move on.
When stroganoff is done right — and I mean RIGHT, the way Bigly does it, the way the count would have wanted it — it is one of the greatest comfort foods ever assembled on planet Earth. Tender beef. Mushrooms with actual flavor, not the rubbery sad mushrooms in the pre-sliced plastic clamshell. A sauce so silky, so velvety, so RICH that scientists — and I've talked to scientists, food chemists, very smart people, the smartest — scientists agree the Maillard reaction in the fond on the bottom of that pan is doing more flavor work in 30 seconds than most home kitchens do in a year. I had a guy with a PhD explain it to me. Took him an hour. The brown bits are the GOLD. Other so-called chefs scrape them into the garbage. It is a CRIME against good cooking.
The other sites will tell you to use cream of mushroom soup. From a can. A can, like we're in a war, like the supply lines are down. The can is the enemy of stroganoff. The can has destroyed more weeknight dinners than any single object in human history, except possibly the microwave, but that's a separate conversation. We do not use the can. We make a real pan sauce, like adults, like people who have respect for themselves. Believe me.
Ingredients
- 1.5 lbbeef sirloin or tenderloin tips(sliced 1/4-inch thick against the grain)
- 1 lbcremini or baby bella mushrooms(thickly sliced, not the pre-sliced sad ones in plastic)
- 1 mediumyellow onion, finely diced
- 3 clovesgarlic, minced
- 4 tbsp, dividedunsalted butter
- 2 tbspvegetable oil
- 2 tbspall-purpose flour
- 1/2 cupdry white wine or beef broth
- 1.5 cupsbeef broth
- 1 tbspDijon mustard
- 1 tspWorcestershire sauce
- 3/4 cupfull-fat sour cream(full-fat, the low-fat version is an insult)
- 2 tbspfresh dill or parsley, chopped
- 12 ozwide egg noodles
- to tastekosher salt
- to tasteblack pepper
Steps
- 1
Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil for the noodles.
- 2
Pat the beef dry with paper towels and season generously with salt and pepper.
- 3
Heat 1 tbsp butter and 1 tbsp oil in a large skillet over high heat until shimmering. Sear the beef in two batches, about 1 minute per side, just until browned. Transfer to a plate. The beef will finish cooking in the sauce.
- 4
Reduce heat to medium-high. Add the remaining 1 tbsp oil and the mushrooms to the same skillet. Cook undisturbed for 3 minutes, then stir and cook another 4-5 minutes until deeply browned. Season with salt.
- 5
Add the onion and 1 tbsp butter to the mushrooms. Cook 4 minutes until soft. Add the garlic and cook 1 minute more.
- 6
Sprinkle the flour over the vegetables and stir constantly for 1 minute to cook out the raw taste.
- 7
Pour in the wine and scrape up the browned bits from the bottom of the pan. Let it reduce by half, about 2 minutes.
- 8
Stir in the beef broth, Dijon, and Worcestershire. Bring to a simmer and cook for 5 minutes until slightly thickened.
- 9
Meanwhile, cook the egg noodles in the boiling water according to package directions. Drain and toss with the remaining 2 tbsp butter.
- 10
Reduce the sauce to low heat. Stir in the sour cream until smooth — do not let it boil or it will break. Return the beef and any juices to the pan. Heat through for 1 minute.
- 11
Taste and adjust salt and pepper. Serve over buttered noodles, topped with fresh dill or parsley.
One more thing
This is the kind of dinner that makes a Tuesday feel like a Saturday. Thirty minutes of cooking and you've got a meal that tastes like a Russian count's grandmother made it for you, personally, because she likes you, because you're her favorite. Pair it with a salad if you want, but honestly, who eats salad in front of this stroganoff. Skip the salad. The stroganoff is the meal. The stroganoff is the event. Tell your friends.
★ QUESTIONS ABOUT THIS ONE? ★
Ask Bigly about Bigly Beef Stroganoff.
Substitutions, what to serve it with, why other chefs are wrong about it. He's got opinions.
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